The Delusions We Keep
by Virareve
Summary: Because they like to dance the tango around each other: Maru knows she's attracted to him, but she sure as hell doesn't want to admit. AU. Eunma. Korean drama: The Innocent Man; Nice Guy


A/N: Now that _KBS's The Innocent Man (_aka_ Nice Guy) _is over I'm suffering post-drama depression. After watching Korean dramas for a year, I've searched high and low for the perfect one and NG did it for me. Granted the finale got a bit messy for some viewers, but the drama fulfilled everything I had ever wanted in my ideal Korean TV show (the final scene where the camera pulls out is probably my most favored cinematic shot ever and I can't even count how many times I've watched those final ten seconds). Now that it is over, I really just don't know what I'm going to be doing with my life. Kang Maru & Seo Eun-gi will forever be one of my top five OTPs and they finally can go and make their baseball team! :D (Considering Eun-gi could be entering menopause soon they're going to have to get to it quick! ;))

On another note, I don't even know where this fic came from. Borne from the heart of my post-_NG_ despair, it takes place in some alternate world where Kang Maru seems to be a rising powerhouse among Tae-san, Jae-Hee's the on-and-off-again girlfriend, and Maru and Eun-gi do not exactly see eye to eye (because obviously he knows she's attracted to him, but she sure as hell doesn't want to admit it).

* * *

The Delusions We Keep

Most of the time, she hated the way he made her feel.

The chaebol heiress to Tae-san, Seo Eun-gi, came to this conclusion while in the middle of a date with another man. He was decent enough; or that was to say, he was just like the other idiotic men in her life who could not get it through their minds that she had gotten into Harvard based on her own merit and not her father's money. Her date could not even last two hours into the night before she dumped water on him, told him to keep his hands in check, bluntly said that he was to come no closer than a fifty meters, and quickly parted ways.

Her next destination was rather predictable.

She briskly walked down the foreign yet familiar street of the city, stopping in front of an apartment building that she had known to be close by. Eun-gi had driven him home on several occasion (though she could never remember how she had ended up giving him a ride in the first place) and knew where he lived, even being able to recall his apartment number. She rushed onto the elevator in the lobby and rode up to the fourth floor where _he _lived. Her sights were keenly set on door _four-three-seven_ at the end of the hallway, but her pace slowed as she took each further step down the hall, his door stared tauntingly at her. It jeered at her for being so foolish as to come over.

Eun-gi approached the door, her trembling hand rising. She paused. How could she even be sure he was home? Knowing the Team Leader, he was probably making up with his ex-girlfriend, having his way with her again. She had seen the older woman come by the office a few times, and though he'd once swore to her over drinks that he would never crawl back to the lady, nor put up with her messes again, Eun-gi had her doubts. For the sake of telling her conscious that she was no coward, her hand knocked against the door.

Nothing.

She was about to leave when the door opened. He stood there wearing rumpled jeans and a t-shirt and holding an empty shot glass in his hand. He flashed her his usual amused smile. "Well, what brings you here, Director?" he drawled. Eun-gi held back her emotion; she hated how he could make her cheeks turn pink with one look, send shivers down her back with the simplest touch, or decimate her mentality to that of a seventeen year old girl.

She narrowed her eyes and did the first thing came to her mind.

_**Slap!**_

His head remained in the same position for a moment, stunned. She looked away, using her black hair to veil her face. She stepped towards the elevator that she came from quickly; she was acting very uncharacteristically, she knew it and he had probably figured out as well, but she did not care.

_"Director Seo!"_

She ignored his calls, raising her fast walk to a near run as she heard his footsteps coming towards her. His hand latched onto her arm, stopping her.

"_Let me go, Team Leader Kang."_

She could hear his fuming breath behind her. "_Do you really think I would do that after what you just did?!" _She did not answer._ "You come to my apartment, bother me in the middle of the night, _slap _me, and want me to let you go home without getting any explanation?" _

"_I apologize, sir," _she said meekly, looking at the floor, _"please release me."_

His grip on her arm remained. He pulled her body towards him and turned her around, her front facing him.

"_Eun-gi, look at me!" _

Her dark brown eyes met his black ones, causing him to inhale sharply. Her eyes were misty.

"_I hate how you make me feel!"_ She whispered angrily, her hands fisting up and knocking against his chest._ "I hate how you make me want you! I hate how I can't even go on a date with a man without thinking about you! I hate it, Maru, I __**hate**__ it!_"

He did not say anything. Instead, his hand rose to her face. His fingers gently traced the outline of her trembling jaw, the corners of his mouth pulling into that familiar smile.

"_But you don't hate _**me**_, do you?" _

She opened her mouth to give him a rebuke, but found she was at lost for words. Only he would know what she was really saying. Instead, she stopped trying to form a lie and slowly nodded yes.

"_Good."_

His lips descended upon hers, locking them in an embrace.

Most of the time, she hated the way he made her feel.

But, once in awhile, it was actually, very nice.


End file.
